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astrophysics
Abstractions blog
How Nearby Stellar Explosions Could Have Killed Off Large Animals
Subatomic particles called muons are thought to have streamed through the atmosphere and irradiated megafauna like the monster shark megalodon.
astrophysics
Missing Galaxies? Now There’s Too Many
Astronomers couldn’t find enough satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. Now they have the opposite problem.
gravitational waves
New Studies Rescue Gravitational-Wave Signal From the Noise
Two independent papers vanquish lingering doubts about LIGO’s historic discovery of gravitational waves.
Q&A
On the Best Use of Science to Safeguard Humanity
For 50 years, the astrophysicist Martin Rees has contributed to our understanding of cosmology. Now he is speaking up about the promise and potential dangers of the science and technology that will arrive over the next 50 years and beyond.
astrophysics
Galactic Beacons Get Snuffed Out in a Cosmic Eyeblink
Quasars powered by supermassive black holes have been unexpectedly vanishing. Scientists have started to figure out why.
Q&A
An Italian Cosmologist Who Wanders in Dante’s Dark Wood
A scientist and programmer with a literary bent, Valeria Pettorino thinks multiple angles and diverse points of view are needed to unriddle the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
astrophysics
Astronomers Creep Up to the Edge of the Milky Way’s Black Hole
Hot spots have been discovered orbiting just outside the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center. Their motions have given us the closest look at that violent environment.
Q&A
Prepping for a Flood of Heavenly Bodies
Mario Jurić is leading the push to get astronomy ready for the torrents of data that are about to flow.
astrophysics
Planets Found to Be Larger Than the Disks They Come From
The new finding is challenging established theories of how planets come to be.